A new research ship that will be operated by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography on behalf of the Navy has been named after Sally Ride, the late La Jolla resident who became the first American woman to fly in space in 1983.

Ride, an emeritus professor of physics at UC San Diego, died of pancreatic cancer last July at the age of 61. (Obit).

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in a statement, "Sally Ride's career was one of firsts and will inspire generations to come. I named R/V Sally Ride to honor a great researcher, but also to encourage generations of students to continue exploring, discovering and reaching for the stars."

It is common for a research vessel to be named after an explorer or scientist. Scripps' current fleet of Navy-owned ships includes the Roger Revelle, which bears the name of the late UC San Diego scientist who helped pioneer the study of global warming. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Cape Cod, Mass. is getting a ship named R/V Neil Armstrong.

Ride grew up in Los Angeles and attended Stanford University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in English and in physics. She also earned a doctorate in physics at Stanford before joining the astronaut corps at NASA during the early years of the space shuttle program. Ride worked as a ground-based capsule communicator for two missions, then was chosen to fly aboard shuttle Challenger. She bolted into orbit in June 1983, during one of the most-watched space missions in American history. She flew aboard Challenger again the following year and was preparing for a third mission when Challenger exploded during launch in 1986. Ride left NASA a year later and briefly worked at Stanford before taking a faculty position at UC San Diego in 1989.

Ride's involvement in education wasn't limited to the university. In 2001, she founded Sally Ride Science, a company that develops programs and classroom materials that are meant to teach youngsters about science, engineering, mathematics and technology.

"Much of Sally's writing and speeches talked about the majesty of Earth's oceans from space, and this fitting tribute will give inspiration to those exploring the inner space of our ocean depths as well as outer space," said Francis French, education director at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.

The 238-foot R/V Sally Ride is being built at a shipyard in Anacortes, Wash., and is expected to be launched in 2015.